Personally, I would get a specialist's opinion. Surgery is usually done on dogs that have grade 3-4 LP usually because the condition doesn't reverse itself. You can try joint supplements but if the knee is bad enough those won't help much and the knee will always be an issue. Surgery usually depends on how bad the knee is.. some dogs just get a few screws placed, others have to have reconstructive surgery. Recovery also depends on how invasive the surgery was. My sister's Maltese, Palbert, had this surgery over 1 year ago. His knee was between a grade 3 and 4 and the reason we opted for surgery was the fear of the knee blowing out one day. Palbert acted normally and only had 2 incidents where his knee slipped out but the vet warned us that all it would take was for him to jump off the bed and blow out his knee because it was unstable. And a blown knee is a lot more invasive of a surgery with a much longer recovery. Another consideration we had was that the surgery and recovery would be easier on a younger dog. If Palbert didn't have it now, in a few years if he blew his knee he'd be older and not recover as quickly. He weighed about 3.5 pounds when he had the surgery and he came through like a champ. He recovered very quickly too. He was a little nervous about walking on his leg after surgery so he stayed off it himself for about a week before he finally started walking on it... which is what the doctor recommended. In our case, surgery was the best option and over a year later Palbert is doing great with no ill effects at all from the surgery and now we aren't freaking out every time he jumps off the couch. Best of luck to you!
